Bluetooth(™) low-energy scanning and ranging

ABSTRACT

A first device may communicate via a first wireless interface (WI) and a second WI, with the second WI operating at a relatively higher power level than the first WI. The first device may receive a scan notification corresponding to wireless scanning performed by a second device. The first device may subsequently perform wireless scanning using the second WI in response to the scan notification indicating that the first device is within effective communication range of a third device. The first device may receive the scan notification over a wireless connection established between the first device and the second device using the first WI. The first device may transmit filter information to the second device, the filter information indicating when, and for which scans the first device is to receive scan notifications. The first device may also activate the second WI and use the second WI to perform ranging and/or control operations associated with the third device.

PRIORITY CLAIM INFORMATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/599,760, filed May 19, 2017, titled “BLUETOOTH™ Low-Energy Scanningand Ranging”, now. U.S. Pat. No. 9,942,849, which is hereby incorporatedby reference in its entireties as though fully and completely set forthherein.

The claims in the instant application are different than those of theparent application or other related applications. The Applicanttherefore rescinds any disclaimer of claim scope made in the parentapplication or any predecessor application in relation to the instantapplication. The Examiner is therefore advised that any such previousdisclaimer and the cited references that it was made to avoid, may needto be revisited. Further, any disclaimer made in the instant applicationshould not be read into or against the parent application or otherrelated applications.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present application relates to electronic devices, includingwireless communication devices having a lower power reserve/sourceoffloading wireless scanning to wireless communication devices having alarger power source/reserve.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

In recent years electronic devices have become increasinglysophisticated. Electronic devices, including smart phones, smartwatches, smart glasses, tablet computers, and notebook computers, areoften capable of communicating with each other. Such electronic devicesmay support one or more of various communications technologies,including wired and wireless technologies, in order to connect,communicate or pair with each other. In particular, these devices oftenutilize short range wireless communication technologies and standards,such as IEEE 802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), or BLUETOOTH™ (BT) or BLUETOOTH™Low Energy (BLE), among others to connect and/or communicate with eachother. In addition, some or all such electronic devices may also becapable of communicating over wireless cellular networks and/or viavarious other wireless communication means, some examples of whichinclude, GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TDS-CDMA), LTE, LTE Advanced (LTE-A), HSPA,3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc., just to name afew.

Short range wireless communication technologies are oftentimes used toestablish wireless personal area networks (WPANs). WPANs can be used forcommunication among the electronic devices themselves (intrapersonalcommunication), or for connecting to a higher level network and theInternet (an uplink), or for connecting accessory devices with theelectronic devices (pairing). Other short range wireless communicationtechnologies used in establishing WPANs include Wireless USB™, INSTEON™,IrDA™, and the like. The reach of a WPAN can vary from a few centimetersto a few meters. One primary concept of WPANs is referred to as“plugging in”. For example, when any two WPAN-equipped devices come intoproximity with each other (within effective communication range of eachother), they can establish wireless communications with each other. Ingeneral, in this context, “proximity” is used to denote effectivecommunication range. For example, two devices coming into proximity witheach other, or into proximity to each other, signifies that the twodevices have come within effective communication range with respect toeach other. Another feature associated with WPAN-enabled devices and/oraccessories is the ability of each device/accessory to selectively lockout other devices/accessories, preventing needless interference orunauthorized access to information. BLE (mentioned above) is a wirelesspersonal area network technology aimed at novel applications in thehealthcare, fitness, beacons, security, and home entertainmentindustries. Compared to classic BLUETOOTH™, BLE is intended to provideconsiderably reduced power consumption and cost while maintaining asimilar communication range. While BLE is not backward-compatible withthe classic BLUETOOTH™ protocol, devices may implement either or both ofthe BLE and classic BLUETOOTH™ systems. BLE uses the same 2.4 GHz radiofrequencies as classic BLUETOOTH™, which allows dual-mode devices toshare a single radio antenna.

When operating wireless communication devices, keeping an interfaceactive for extended periods of time can be taxing on device power,particularly for a relatively small device, e.g., a wearable device suchas a smart watch or smart glasses. That is, activities such as wirelessscanning might lead to a faster depletion of the power source or batteryof the device, reducing the single-charge use-time of the device. Othercorresponding issues related to the prior art will become apparent toone skilled in the art after comparing such prior art with the disclosedembodiments as described herein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments are presented herein of, inter alia, improved systems andmethods for relatively small electronic wireless communication devices,e.g. wireless communication devices having smaller power reserves,offloading wireless scanning functionality to proxy device(s) with whichthe smaller wireless communication devices have established acommunication link and which have relatively larger power reserves.Scanning functionality may be offloaded for a variety of reasons, one ofwhich may be to preserve power or to reduce power consumption. However,scanning functionality may be offloaded for other reasons, for exampleto allocate internal resources of the device to other functions and thelike, and scanning functionality may not necessarily be offloaded forthe same reason in each instance. Furthermore, as used herein, “powerreserve” may refer to a total power storage capacity (e.g. the totalcapacity of a battery), an amount of remaining power/charge in abattery, a capacity for a device to keep operating without requiringadditional power, or any similar power characteristic associated withthe device.

In some scenarios, a user may desire to utilize a smaller wirelesscommunication device (e.g. a wearable device such as a smart watch),which may have limited power reserves. However, keeping a wirelessinterface active for extended periods of time may result in the batteryor power source of the device being depleted faster than anticipated ordesired, making it difficult to use the device for extended periods oftime without having to recharge the battery/power source, or withouthaving to replace the battery (in devices featuring replaceablebatteries/power sources). Accordingly, activities such as wirelessscanning may be offloaded by the smaller wireless communication deviceto a proxy device having a larger power reserve, e.g., a larger devicelike a phone, tablet, portable computer, or another small device withgreater charge, just to name a few examples. For example, BLUETOOTH™and/or Wi-Fi scanning may be offloaded from a device with a smallerpower reserve/source to a co-located device that has a greater powerreserve. For example, a (smart) watch may offload BLUETOOTH™ and/orWi-Fi scanning to a cellular/mobile phone. Results of the scanningoperation may be exchanged as needed or periodically, e.g., over a lowpower connection between the devices, an example of which is BLUETOOTH™low-energy (BLE). The wireless communication device with the smallerpower reserve (e.g., watch) may then use notifications—received from thedevice to which the scanning was offloaded—of available proximatedevices, networks, etc., which the wireless communication device maythen scan for, detect, and connect with. As a result, the scansconducted by the wireless communication device with the larger powerreserve may be leveraged to assist the device with the smaller powerreserve. For example, instead of scanning at periodic intervals, thesmaller (or smaller power reserve) devices may in this manner be enabledto scan when notified that there are devices, networks, etc. in theproximity, conserving energy and scanning for those devices, networks,etc. that are already known to be in the proximity.

In some instances, the electronic wireless communication device thatoffloads the scanning may also provide information (e.g., filters)regarding what type of information it would like to receive, e.g. fromthe proxy device to which the smaller device has offloaded the scanning.For example, the smaller device may select to be notified of certaintypes of networks, devices, and/or beacons. Furthermore, the offloadingdevice may also specify when it would like to be notified. For example,the smaller device may specify for which types of information it wouldlike to be awakened and/or for which types of information it would liketo be notified during communications, e.g. during periodiccommunications.

In some embodiments, the offloading of wireless scanning may be used forranging and control operations. For example, ranging technology such asUltra-Wideband (UWB)—which is a radio technology for transmittinginformation spread over a large bandwidth—may be prone to high powerconsumption and may therefore not lend itself to constant use insmall(er) wireless communication devices, e.g. for use in a wearabledevice like a smart watch. Instead, in some embodiments, BLE proximitymay be used as a trigger for initiating ranging over a relatively higherpower interface of the small(er) wireless communication device. Forexample, a lower power-reserve device—such as a wearable device or smartphone—may detect that it is in proximity to another device, such as acomputer, a car, a door, etc., based on communications with the otherdevices over a low-power (or relatively lower power) interface, e.g.communications conducted over a BLE interface (e.g., receiving BLEbeacons) over a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Upon determiningthat it is in the proximity of such a device, the lower power-reservedevice may turn on its higher-power ranging radio/interface and use thatinterface to perform the actual ranging operation (e.g. on a Wi-Fiinterface or BLUETOOTH™ interface) for a much shorter period of timethan if it performed such ranging operation(s) without first becomingaware of the proximity of the other devices, thereby saving power.Furthermore, the lower power-reserve device may offload the BLEproximity detection itself to a higher power-reserve device, allowing itto achieve additional power savings. Thus, when a lower power-reservedevice (e.g. smart watch) and a larger power-reserve device (e.g. asmart phone) are both co-located, the lower power-reserve device maystill be used to perform an unlock operation, for example, (throughwireless ranging), but it may only activate its (higher-power) ranginginterface when notified by the larger power-reserve device thatscanning, e.g. BLUETOOTH™ scanning, has identified a proximate device,e.g., a device within effective communication range and of a type thatmay be unlocked by the lower power-reserve device.

This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of thesubject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that the above-described features are merely examples andshould not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subjectmatter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary communication system in which multipledifferent devices may communicate with each other over one or morespecific frequency bands, using various wireless communicationprotocols, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 shows an example wireless communication system in which a firstdevice connects over BLUETOOTH™ and Wi-Fi to various other devices,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3 shows an example wireless communication system in which a firstcomputer system connects over BLUETOOTH™ and Wi-Fi to various otherdevices, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary user deviceaccording to some embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for a firstdevice offloading wireless scanning to a second device, according tosome embodiments;

FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method for performingranging operations while conserving power, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 7 shows a flow diagram of another exemplary method for performingranging operations while conserving power, according to someembodiments; and

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary wireless communication system in which devicesare offloading wireless scanning operations and are performing rangingoperations, according to some embodiments.

While features described herein are susceptible to various modificationsand alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should beunderstood, however, that the drawings and detailed description theretoare not intended to be limiting to the particular form disclosed, but onthe contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalentsand alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subjectmatter as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Acronyms

Various acronyms are used throughout the present application.Definitions of the most prominently used acronyms that may appearthroughout the present application are provided below:

UE: User Equipment

RF: Radio Frequency

AP: Access Point

BT: Bluetooth

BLE: Bluetooth Low Energy

BLEA: Bluetooth Low Energy for Audio

TDD: Time Division Duplexing

TX: Transmission/Transmit

RAT: Radio Access Technology

RX: Reception/Receive

LAN: Local Area Network

WLAN: Wireless LAN, also referred to as Wi-Fi

WPAN: Wireless Personal Area Network

RAT: Radio Access Technology

RSSI: Received Signal Strength Indicator

Wi-Fi: Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) RAT based on the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards

Terms

The following is a glossary of terms that may appear in the presentapplication:

Memory Medium—Any of various types of memory devices or storage devices.The term “memory medium” is intended to include an installation medium,e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks 104, or tape device; a computer systemmemory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM,Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash, magnetic media,e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, or other similartypes of memory elements, etc. The memory medium may comprise othertypes of memory as well or combinations thereof. In addition, the memorymedium may be located in a first computer system in which the programsare executed, or may be located in a second different computer systemwhich connects to the first computer system over a network, such as theInternet. In the latter instance, the second computer system may provideprogram instructions to the first computer system for execution. Theterm “memory medium” may include two or more memory mediums which mayreside in different locations, e.g., in different computer systems thatare connected over a network. The memory medium may store programinstructions (e.g., embodied as computer programs) that may be executedby one or more processors and/or processing elements.

Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physicaltransmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physicaltransmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Computer System (or Computer)—any of various types of computing orprocessing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), mainframecomputer system, workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance,personal digital assistant (PDA), television system, grid computingsystem, or other device or combinations of devices. In general, the term“computer system” may be broadly defined to encompass any device (orcombination of devices) having at least one processor that executesinstructions from a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computersystems devices which are mobile or portable and which performs wirelesscommunications. Also referred to as wireless communication devices.Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones or smart phones (e.g.,iPhone™, Android™-based phones) and tablet computers such as iPad™Samsung Galaxy™, etc., portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS™,PlayStation Portable™, Gameboy Advance™, iPod™), laptops, wearabledevices (e.g. Apple Watch™, Google Glass™) PDAs, portable Internetdevices, music players, data storage devices, or other handheld devices,etc. Various other types of devices would fall into this category ifthey include Wi-Fi or both cellular and Wi-Fi communication capabilitiesand/or other wireless communication capabilities, for example overshort-range radio access technologies (SRATs) such as BLUETOOTH™, etc.In general, the term “UE” or “UE device” may be broadly defined toencompass any electronic, computing, and/or telecommunications device(or combination of devices) which is easily transported by a user andcapable of wireless communication.

Base Station (BS)—The term “Base Station” has the full breadth of itsordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication stationinstalled at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of awireless telephone system or radio system.

Processing Element—refers to various elements or combinations ofelements that are capable of performing a function in a device, e.g. ina user equipment device or in a cellular network device. Processingelements may include, for example: processors and associated memory,portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processorcores, processor arrays, circuits such as an ASIC (Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit), programmable hardware elements such as a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), as well any of various combinations ofthe above.

Wireless Device (or wireless communication device)—any of various typesof computer systems devices which performs wireless communications usingWLAN communications, SRAT communications, Wi-Fi communications and thelike. As used herein, the term “wireless device” may refer to a UEdevice, as defined above, or to a stationary device, such as astationary wireless client or a wireless base station. For example awireless device may be any type of wireless station of an 802.11 system,such as an access point (AP) or a client station (UE), or any type ofwireless station of a cellular communication system communicatingaccording to a cellular radio access technology (e.g. LTE, CDMA, GSM),such as a base station or a cellular telephone, for example. Wi-Fi—Theterm “Wi-Fi” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, and at leastincludes a wireless communication network or RAT that is serviced bywireless LAN (WLAN) access points and which provides connectivitythrough these access points to the Internet. Most modern Wi-Fi networks(or WLAN networks) are based on IEEE 802.11 standards and are marketedunder the name “Wi-Fi”. A Wi-Fi (WLAN) network is different from acellular network.

BLUETOOTH™—The term “BLUETOOTH™” has the full breadth of its ordinarymeaning, and at least includes any of the various implementations of theBluetooth standard, including Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) and BluetoothLow Energy for Audio (BTLEA), including future implementations of theBluetooth standard, among others.

Personal Area Network—The term “Personal Area Network” has the fullbreadth of its ordinary meaning, and at least includes any of varioustypes of computer networks used for data transmission among devices suchas computers, phones, tablets and input/output devices. Bluetooth is oneexample of a personal area network. A PAN is an example of a short rangewireless communication technology.

Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computersystem (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g.,circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without userinput directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thusthe term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manuallyperformed or specified by the user, where the user provides input todirectly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiatedby input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that areperformed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are notperformed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform.For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting eachfield and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typinginformation, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is fillingout the form manually, even though the computer system must update theform in response to the user actions. The form may be automaticallyfilled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g.,software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of theform and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answersto the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automaticfilling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of theform (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields butrather they are being automatically completed). The presentspecification provides various examples of operations beingautomatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

Configured to—Various components may be described as “configured to”perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broadrecitation generally meaning “having structure that” performs the taskor tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured toperform the task even when the component is not currently performingthat task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured toelectrically connect a module to another module, even when the twomodules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be abroad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that”performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component canbe configured to perform the task even when the component is notcurrently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structurecorresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits.

Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, forconvenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpretedas including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that isconfigured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not toinvoke 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph six, interpretation for thatcomponent.

FIG. 1—Exemplary Communication System with Multiple Wi-Fi Devices

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary communication system in which multipledifferent devices may communicate with each other over a specificfrequency band or frequency bands, according to multiple radio accesstechnologies (RATs). For example, the device may communicate with eachother over 2.4 GHz and/or 5 GHz frequency bands using Wi-Fi, and/or theymay communicate with each other via BLUETOOTH™ and/or BLUETOOTH™low-energy (BLE) among others. 5 GHz Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 ac/n) capabledevices have become quite common, operating in both peer-to-peer modeand/or station mode, as shown in FIG. 1. Data communications between thedevices may include voice, video, real time and best effort type oftraffic. Illustrated devices include cameras (111), tablets (113), mediaservers/mini-servers (115), portable computers (105, 117), accessports/routers (103), game controllers (119), mobile devices such assmart phones (107), and smart monitors (121) or monitors with wirelessaccess interface (121 together with 123), and may also include wearabledevices such as watches 125 (e.g. smart watches) and smart glasses 127.At least some of the devices illustrated in FIG. 1, e.g. watch 125 andglasses 127, may be lower-power reserve devices with respect to otherdevices, such as tablets 113 and portable computers 105/117, forexample. Accordingly, wireless devices such as watch 125 and glasses127, and in some cases even devices like smart phone 107 may havelimited power reserves. When these lower power-reserve devices keep awireless interface active for extended periods of time, power source orbattery of the device may drain faster than anticipated, making use ofthe devices for extended periods of time more difficult.

FIG. 2—Example First Device Connecting to BT Devices

FIG. 2 shows an example first device 106 which may be owned by and/oroperated by a first user. The first device 106 may selectively connectover a wireless connection such as BLUETOOTH™ or Wi-Fi or BLE withvarious devices, such as a tablet computer 114, one or more smart phones116, a computer 118, a remote control 120, a keyboard 122, a headset orspeaker 124, and/or remote game controllers (GC) 126 and 128, etc. Inthe example shown in FIG. 1, the first device 106 is shown as beingpossibly connected with a number of BLUETOOTH™ devices, although thefirst device 106 may connect to any of various types of devices. In thisexample embodiment, the first device may be any of various types ofdevices, for example a wearable device such as watch 125 and/or glasses127 shown in FIG. 1.

The first device 106 is also shown as being connected through a widearea network 108 to a server computer 110. The server computer 110 maystore information regarding other devices associated with or owned bythe first user, e.g., as indicated by a first user account. For example,the server 110 may be a cloud-based server which stores informationregarding other devices owned by the first user. The first device 106may connect to the server 110 through network 108 over a Wi-Fi network,e.g., through a Wi-Fi access point for an Internet connection.Alternatively, or in addition, the first device 106 may connect to theserver 110 through network 108 over a cellular connection. As will befurther discussed below, the first device 106 may operate to offload oneor more of its wireless scanning function(s) to one or more of the otherdevices with which first device 106 is wirelessly connected, to therebyreduce power consumption of first device 106. In general, first device106 may be any of the various wireless devices illustrate in FIG. 1, andmay operate to offload the wireless scanning function(s) to any otherdevice determined and/or considered to have a higher power-reserve thanfirst device 106. Alternately, first device 106 may offload it wirelessscanning function(s) to any of the other devices for any other reason.

FIG. 3—Example Smart Watch Connecting to BLUETOOTH™ Devices

FIG. 3 illustrates an example where the first device 106 may be a smartwatch 106A. Thus FIG. 3 shows an example of a smart watch 106A connectedto one or more of various types of wireless devices. In exampleembodiments, the smart watch 106A may connect to a wireless mouse 130,wireless keyboard 122, wireless trackpad 132, and/or wireless headphonesand/or earbuds and/or speaker 124. In addition, the smart watch 106A mayestablish communications over a wide area network 108, such as theInternet, using any of various communication technologies, such as Wi-Fiand/or cellular, and may also communicate via network 108 to communicatewith a remote device/server 110 (for example). Furthermore, smart watch106A may wirelessly connect to a streaming device 138 (e.g. AppleTV™),and may connect with various mobile devices such as tablets 114 andcellular phones 116. Overall, it should be noted that the first device106 (such as smart watch 106A) may connect over a WPAN to any one ormore of the devices enumerated above, and any other similar devicesequipped, for example, with short range wireless communicationinterfaces, e.g. BLUETOOTH™, BLE, and the like.

FIG. 4—Example Block Diagram of a Device

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a device 106, such asthe first device 106 in FIG. 2 and/or smart watch device 106A in FIG. 3.As shown, the device 106 may include processor(s) 302, which may executeprogram instructions for the device 106 and may comprise displaycircuitry 304 which may perform graphics processing and provide displaysignals to the display 342. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled tomemory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receiveaddresses from the processor(s) 302 and translate those addresses tolocations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 350, Flashmemory 310) and/or to other circuits or devices, such as the displaycircuitry 304, radio 330, connector I/F 320, and/or display 342. The MMU340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page tabletranslation or set up. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be includedas a portion of the processor(s) 302.

As shown, the processor(s) 302 may be coupled to various other circuitsof the device 106. For example, the device 106 may include various typesof memory, a connector interface 320 (e.g., a Universal Serial Busconnector or any suitable wired interface for coupling to anotherelectrical device, e.g. to a computer system), the display 342, andwireless communication circuitry 330 (e.g., for Wi-Fi, BLUETOOTH′, BLE,and/or cellular communications such as LTE, LTE-A, GSM, etc.). Thedevice 106 may include at least one antenna (e.g. 335 a), and possiblymultiple antennas (e.g. illustrated by antennas 335 a and 335 b), forperforming wireless communications with other wireless communicationdevices. Antennas 335 a and 335 b are shown by way of example, and UEdevice 106 may include more antennas. Overall, the one or more antennasare collectively referred to as antenna(s) 335. For example, the device106 may use antenna(s) 335 to perform the wireless communication withthe aid of wireless communication circuitry 330. As noted above, the UEmay be configured to communicate wirelessly using multiple wirelesscommunication standards in some embodiments.

As described further subsequently herein, the device 106 may includehardware and software components for implementing methods for offloadingwireless scanning performed over higher power wireless interfaces toother wireless communication devices. For example, the device mayestablish a low-power wireless connection and perform low-power wirelesscommunications with other wireless communication devices, through thecourse of which the device 106 may offload some or all of its ownwireless scanning functions (for wireless scanning over higher powerwireless interfaces) to another, preferably higher power reserve device.The device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the methodsdescribed herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on amemory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium)and/or through hardware or firmware operation. In other embodiments, themethods described herein may be at least partially implemented by aprogrammable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable GateArray), and/or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).Thus, the device 106 may be configured to implement methods according toany of various embodiments disclosed herein.

In some embodiments, wireless communication circuitry 330 may includeseparate controllers dedicated to controlling communications for variousrespective RAT standards. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, wirelesscommunication circuitry 330 may include a Wi-Fi controller 350, aBLUETOOTH™ controller 354, a BLE controller 356 (in some embodiments theBLUETOOTH™ and BLE controllers may be implemented as a singlecontroller), and may also include a cellular controller (e.g. LTEcontroller) 352 for communicating over cellular networks. In someembodiments, one or more or all of these controllers may be implementedas hardware, software, firmware, or some combination thereof. While fourseparate controllers are illustrated within wireless communicationcircuitry 330, various embodiments may have fewer, more, and/ordifferent controllers for various different RATs that may be implementedin device 106, and some or all of the controllers may be combined intofewer or a single controller.

FIG. 5—Offloading Wireless Scanning

FIG. 5 shows the flow chart of an exemplary method for a wirelesscommunication device, e.g. a wireless communication device having lowpower reserves, offloading power consuming wireless scanning operationsto another wireless communication device having a larger power supplyand/or relatively larger power reserves compared with the wirelesscommunication device offloading the scanning operations. For example, a(smart) watch may offload BLUETOOTH™ and/or Wi-Fi scanning to any or allof a cellular/mobile phone, a tablet, a laptop computer, etc. Results ofthe scanning operation may be exchanged as needed or periodically, e.g.,over a low power connection between the devices, an example of which isBLUETOOTH™ low-energy (BLE). The smart watch may usenotifications—received from the larger power reserve device—of availableproximate devices, networks, etc. to scan for, detect, and connect withthe proximate devices, and the scans conducted by the wirelesscommunication devices with the larger power reserve(s) may be leveragedto assist the device or devices with the smaller power reserve(s).

Accordingly, a first device may establish a connection according to afirst protocol, e.g. a low-power wireless connection such as BLE, withat least a second device, e.g. a device having a larger powersource/power reserve than the first device (402). In some embodiments,the first device might establish the connection by using notificationssent by the second device to detect/recognize the second device andconnect with the second device according to the first protocol. Thefirst device may indicate to the second device what type or kind ofinformation the first device wishes to receive from the second device,and may also specify to the second device when the first device is toreceive notifications from the second device (404). In some embodiments,the first device might provide filters to the second device, which thesecond device may use to filter out the information that it sends to thefirst device. For example, the first device may select to be notified ofcertain types of networks, devices, and/or beacons. Furthermore, thefirst device may specify for which types of information it is to beawakened and/or for which types of information it is to be notifiedduring periodic communications with the second device.

The first device may receive scanning information from the seconddevice, where the scanning information is associated with wirelessscanning performed by the second device according to at least a secondprotocol, possibly more than one protocol (406). For example, the seconddevice may perform wireless scanning for Wi-Fi or BLUETOOTH™ or someother RAT over or according to which the first device may also becapable of communicating. The first device may then determine whether toconduct communications according to the second protocol (or any of theother selected protocols), at least based on the received scanninginformation (408). For example, the first device may begin conductingWi-Fi communications based on the scanning information received from thesecond device. However, because the scanning (for Wi-Fi) was performedby the second device and not the first device, the first device mayconserve power and thereby extend its operating time.

FIG. 6—Ranging Operations Using Proximity Detection

As previously mentioned, in some embodiments, the offloading of wirelessscanning operations over higher-power wireless interfaces may be usedwhen performing ranging operations. Some ranging technology—such asUltra-Wideband (UWB), which is a radio technology for transmittinginformation spread over a large bandwidth—may consume a large amount ofpower, making it impractical for frequent or constant use in wirelesscommunication devices having relatively lower power reserves. Therefore,a more efficient implementation of ranging operations may includeoffloading wireless scanning (performed over higher-power wirelessinterfaces) to save power. FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram of an exemplarymethod of performing ranging operations while conserving power,according to a first set of embodiments. As an example, BLE proximitymay be used as a trigger for initiating ranging over a higher-powerinterface. For example, a lower-power reserve device may have multipledifferent wireless communication interfaces (such as BLUETOOTH™, BLE,Wi-Fi, etc.), and may leverage wireless scanning performed by the deviceon a lower-power wireless interface (e.g. over BLE) to determine when toperform ranging over one of its higher-power wireless interfaces.

Accordingly, a first device, such as a wearable device or smart phone,may scan for other devices according to a first wireless protocol—e.g. alow-power or reduced power wireless communication protocol, such as BLE(502). In some embodiments, the BLE scanning may result in the firstdevice receiving a BLE beacon signal(s) broadcast by one or more otherdevices. The one or more other devices may be, e.g., a personalcomputer, a vehicle, a door, or any of a variety of electronic devicescapable of communicating with the first device. The first device maydetect that it is in proximity to a second device, based on thelow-power scanning performed by the first device according to the firstwireless communication protocol, e.g. upon detecting a BLE beacontransmitted by the second device (504). Upon determining that it is inthe proximity of the second device, the first device may activate/turnon at least one of its higher-power ranging/radio interfaces to performa ranging operation according to a second wireless communicationprotocol (506). By performing the ranging operation (according to thesecond wireless communication protocol) in response to detecting theproximity of the second device, the first device may perform the rangingoperation for a reduced period of time compared to performing theranging operation without first detecting the proximity of the seconddevice, e.g. using a relatively lower-power wireless communicationprotocol.

FIG. 7—Ranging Operations Using Offloaded Scanning

FIG. 7 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method of performing rangingoperations while conserving power, according to some embodiments. Asshown in FIG. 7, in some embodiments, a first device, such as a wearabledevice, may offload proximity detection of other devices to a seconddevice (e.g. a higher power-reserve device) with which the first devicehas already established a connection according to a first wirelesscommunication protocol,—e.g. a low-power or reduced power wirelesscommunication protocol, such as BLE. This may allow the first device toachieve additional power savings when performing ranging operationscompared to performing ranging operations according to the exemplarymethod shown in FIG. 6. For example, when the first device (e.g. smartwatch) and the second device (e.g. a smart phone) are both co-located,the first device may still be used to perform an unlock operation(through wireless ranging), but the first device may only activate itshigher-power ranging interface (ranging interface operating according toa second wireless communication protocol, e.g. BLUETOOTH™ or Wi-Fi) whennotified by the second device that wireless scanning performed by thesecond device (e.g. according to the first wireless communicationprotocol or another wireless communication protocol) has identified aproximate device, e.g., a device within effective communication range ofthe first device and of a type that may be unlocked through a wirelessranging operation, e.g. by the first device.

Accordingly, a first device (e.g. a smart watch) may establish aconnection with a second device (e.g. a smart phone co-located with thefirst device) over a first wireless interface according to a firstwireless communication protocol, e.g. a low-power wireless communicationprotocol such as BLE (508). The second device may perform scanning, e.g.wireless scanning for proximate devices, e.g. for devices withineffective communication range, and may notify the first device uponidentifying one or more proximate devices with which the first devicemay communicate and/or which the first device may control (510). Thesecond device may notify the first device using the connectionpreviously established between the first device and the second deviceaccording to the first wireless communication protocol. In response tothe notification, the first device may activate/turn on a secondwireless interface operating at a relatively higher power than the firstwireless interface, e.g. consuming more power than the first interface.The second wireless interface may be a higher-power ranging/radiointerface, or more generally, wireless interface other than the firstwireless interface. The first device may then use the second wirelessinterface to perform a ranging operation according to a second wirelesscommunication protocol associated with the second wireless interface,and may subsequently perform control on one or more of the proximatedevices identified by the second device if the device to be controlledis found to be within effective control range of the first device (512).

FIG. 8—Exemplary Operation of Multiple Wireless Communication Devices

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary wireless communication system in which devicesare offloading wireless scanning operations and are performing rangingoperations, according to some embodiments. More specifically, FIG. 8provides an illustration of the types of wired and/or wirelessconnections that may be established in order to allow devices to easilyoffload wireless scanning operations to other devices, for example toother devices having larger power reserves than the devices offloadingthe scanning operation(s). FIG. 8 further provides an illustration ofthe types of wired and/or wireless connections that may be establishedin order to allow devices to perform ranging operations while conservingpower.

A first device 708, e.g. a wearable device (exemplified in FIG. 8 by asmart watch), and a second device 702, e.g. small portable device(exemplified in FIG. 8 by a smart phone) may be linked by a connection,which may be wired (716) or wireless (714). Typically, a wearable devicemay be connected to a portable device via a wireless connection (714),which wouldn't preclude the possibility of connecting devices 708 and702 via a wired connection (716). The wireless connection 714 may havebeen established according to a first wireless communication protocol,e.g. it may be a low-power wireless connection established according toBLUETOOTH™ Low Energy (BLE). Wireless connection 714 may have beenestablished upon device 708 and device 702 coming into proximity of eachother. Devices 702 and 708 may remain co-located or in proximity to eachother, maintaining the established wireless connection 714.

In some embodiments, device 702 may perform wireless scanning accordingto a second wireless communication protocol different from the firstwireless communication protocol used to establish and maintain wirelessconnection 714. The wireless scanning performed by device 702 may resultin device 702 identifying devices 704 and 706—via wireless links 710 and712, respectively—as being in the proximity of device 702, and thereforealso in the proximity of device 708. Device 702 may notify device 708via wireless connection 714 of the proximity of devices 704 and 706. Inresponse to receiving such a notification, device 708 may performwireless scanning according to the second wireless communicationprotocol or another wireless communication protocol different from thefirst wireless communication protocol to detect device 704 and/or device706, and establish a wireless connection with device 704 and/or device706. For example, device 708 may operate to establish a wirelessconnection 718 with device 706. In some embodiments, device 708 mayprovide filter information to device 702 over wireless connection 714regarding what type of information device 708 may wish to receive fromdevice 702, for example indicating what notifications device 708 isinterested in receiving. For example, device 708 may select to benotified of certain types of devices, networks, beacon signals, etc.and/or selecting certain other types of devices, networks, beaconsignals, etc. of which device 708 does not wish to be notified. Inaddition, device 708 may also specify to device 702 when device 708wishes to be notified. In general, the notifications by device 702 maybe provided to device 708 as needed, or they may be provided to device708 periodically. For example, device 708 may specify for which types ofinformation it would like to be awakened (notification provided asneeded) and/or for which types of information it would like to benotified during periodic communications (notifications providedperiodically).

In some embodiments, results of wireless scanning operations performedby any of devices 702, 708, 704 and/or 706 may be exchanged between thedevices, to allow each device to leverage the scans already obtained byany of the other devices to save power and/or time by not performingunnecessary scanning operations. For example, results of wireless scansperformed by device 702 may be shared with devices 708, 704 and 706,which may perform further wireless scanning operations according to theresults of the scanning operations shared by device 702. Furthermore,each device may provide is own set of filter information to one or moreof the other devices to indicate what type of information/notificationthe device wishes to receive from the other device(s) and when thedevice wishes to receive the information/notification.

In some embodiments, device 708 may perform ranging operations based onproximity detection of any of the other devices. For example, device 708may perform wireless scanning according to a first wirelesscommunication protocol (which may be a low-power wireless communicationprotocol, e.g. BLE) to detect the proximity of any one or more ofdevices 702, 704, and/or 706. In case one or more of the devices is of aspecific type, e.g. device 704 may be a car and device 706 may be apersonal computer, device 708 may activate a ranging radio/interface(operating according to a second wireless communication protocoldifferent from the first wireless communication protocol and possiblyhaving a higher power-consumption than the first wireless communicationprotocol) to perform a ranging operation. This allows device 708 toperform the actual ranging operation for a shorter time duration than ifdevice 708 performed the ranging operation without first detectingdevices 704 and/or 706 via the first wireless communication protocol.Alternately, if device 708 and 702 are co-located and have an alreadyestablished connection, e.g. wireless connection 714 described above,device 708 may not perform additional wireless scanning according to thefirst wireless communication protocol to detect the proximity of devices704 and 706, but may instead leverage being notified by device 702 ofthe proximity of devices 704 and 706 (as described above with respect todevice 708 offloading wireless scanning to device 702), to perform theranging operation(s).

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be realized in any of variousforms. For example, in some embodiments, the subject matter of thepresent disclosure may be realized as a computer-implemented method, acomputer-readable memory medium, or a computer system. In otherembodiments, the present invention may be realized using one or morecustom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. In other embodiments,the subject matter of the present disclosure may be realized using oneor more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium(e.g., a non-transitory memory element) may be configured so that itstores program instructions and/or data, where the program instructions,if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform amethod, e.g., any of a method embodiments described herein, or, anycombination of the method embodiments described herein, or, any subsetof any of the method embodiments described herein, or, any combinationof such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to includea processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium (or memoryelement), where the memory medium stores program instructions, where theprocessor is configured to read and execute the program instructionsfrom the memory medium, where the program instructions are executable toimplement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or,any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, anysubset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, anycombination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any ofvarious forms.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A device comprising: a first wirelessinterface configured to facilitate wireless communications according toa first wireless communication protocol; a second wireless interfaceconfigured to facilitate wireless communications according to a secondwireless communication protocol, wherein the second first wirelessinterface operates at a lower power level relative to a power level atwhich the second wireless interface operates; and a processing elementcommunicatively coupled to the first wireless interface and to thesecond wireless interface, and configured to cause the device to: scan,using the first wireless interface, for one or more other devices;activate the second wireless interface in response to the scanindicating that a second device is within effective communication rangeof the device; and perform, using the second wireless interface, aranging operation associated with the second device.
 2. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the processing element is configured to further causethe device to use the first wireless interface to establish a wirelessconnection with the second device.
 3. The device of claim 2, wherein theprocessing element is configured to further cause the device toestablish the wireless connection with the second device in response tothe device coming within effective communication range of the seconddevice.
 4. The device of claim 2, wherein the processing element isconfigured to further cause the device to: use the first wirelessinterface to transmit, to the second device, one or more of: anindication of a type of information the device is to receive from thesecond device; or and indication of a time at which the device is toreceive a notification from the second device.
 5. The device of claim 1,wherein the processing element is configured to further cause the deviceto receive scanning information from the second device, wherein thescanning information is associated with wireless scanning for one moreother devices performed by the second device.
 6. The device of claim 5,wherein the wireless scanning by the second device is performedaccording to a wireless communication protocol different from the firstwireless communication protocol.
 7. The device of claim 5, wherein theprocessing element is configured to further cause the device todetermine whether to conduct communications using the second wirelessinterface at least based on the scanning information.
 8. An apparatuscomprising: a processing element configured to cause a first device to:scan, using a first wireless interface, for one or more other devices;activate a second wireless interface in response to the scan indicatingthat a second device is within effective communication range of thefirst device, wherein the second first wireless interface operates at alower power level relative to a power level at which the second wirelessinterface operates; and perform, using the second wireless interface, aranging operation associated with the second device.
 9. The apparatus ofclaim 8, wherein the processing element is configured to further causethe first device to: use the first wireless interface to establish awireless connection with the second device in response to the firstdevice being within effective communication range of the second device.10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processing element isconfigured to further cause the first device to: use the first wirelessinterface to transmit, to the second device, one or more of: anindication of a type of information the first device is to receive fromthe second device; or an indication of a time at which the first deviceis to receive a notification from the second device.
 11. The apparatusof claim 8, wherein the processing element is configured to furthercause the first device to receive scanning information from the seconddevice, wherein the scanning information is associated with wirelessscanning for one or more other devices performed by the second device.12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the wireless scanning by thesecond device is performed according to a wireless communicationprotocol different from the first wireless communication protocol. 13.The device of claim 11, wherein the processing element is configured tofurther cause the first device to determine whether to conductcommunications using the second wireless interface at least based on thescanning information.
 14. A non-transitory memory element storinginstructions executable by a processing element to cause a first deviceto: scan, using a first wireless interface, for one or more otherdevices; activate a second wireless interface in response to the scanindicating that a second device is within effective communication rangeof the first device, wherein the second first wireless interfaceoperates at a lower power level relative to a power level at which thesecond wireless interface operates; and perform, using the secondwireless interface, a ranging operation associated with the seconddevice.
 15. The non-transitory memory element of claim 14, wherein theinstructions are executable by the processing element to further causethe first device to: use the first wireless interface to establish awireless connection with the second device in response to the firstdevice being within effective communication range of the second device.16. The non-transitory memory element of claim 15, wherein theinstructions are executable by the processing element to further causethe first device to: use the first wireless interface to transmit, tothe second device, one or more of: an indication of a type ofinformation the first device is to receive from the second device; or anindication of a time at which the first device is to receive anotification from the second device.
 17. The non-transitory memoryelement of claim 14, wherein the instructions are executable by theprocessing element to further cause the first device to receive scanninginformation from the second device, wherein the scanning information isassociated with wireless scanning for one or more other devicesperformed by the second device.
 18. The non-transitory memory element ofclaim 17, wherein the wireless scanning by the second device isperformed according to a wireless communication protocol different fromthe first wireless communication protocol.
 19. The non-transitory memoryelement of claim 14, wherein the instructions are executable by theprocessing element to further cause the first device to determinewhether to conduct communications using the second wireless interface atleast based on the scanning information.
 20. The non-transitory memoryelement of claim 14, wherein the first wireless interface comprises aBLUETOOTH™ Low Energy interface and the second wireless interfacecomprises one of a BLUETOOTH™ interface or a Wi-Fi interface.